Rail-joint connection for toy railways



RAIL JOINT CONNECTION FOR TOY RAILWAYS Filed Nov. 5, 1927 3 6fi 7 ;f S- 73 4 i9 l .5

jLZJV 1 l: j enfor- P 9 Jip s ch/ I 9 v 10 Patented July 24, 1 928.

UNITEDSTATES LUDWIG REISCHL, OF NUREMBERG, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR '10 DOLL & CO., AKT IENGE- 1,678,079 PATENT OFFICE.

SELLSCHAFT, OF NULR-EMBERG, GERMANY.

RAIL-JOINT CONNECTION FOR TOY RAILWAYS.

Application filed November 3, 1927, Serial No. 230,879, and in Germany August 3, 1927.

This invention relates to rail joint connections for toy railways and has for'its object to provide a rail joint connection not having the disadvantages of the connec- 5 tions hitherto in use. The usual and best known rail joint connections are provided at their ends with pins which are inserted into the heads of the adjacent rails. When the diameter of the pins corresponds accurately to the openings in the rail heads, an appreciable resistance has to be overcome when putting them together and'taking them apart; In doing this the two pieces of track to be connected together have to be firmly grasped with the hands, resulting in the rails being bentand the gauge being altered. Through the parts being repeatedly put together and taken apart, the openings in the heads of the rails will gradually become widened, so that the connection will become loose in the course of time. In order to overcome this diliiculty,fthese pin connections are secured by small coupling hooks. As however these coupling hooks easily become bent out of shape, they tend to open when the trains are running, which also results in the pieces of track easily coming apart. In addition to, this, the repeated putting together and taking apart of the parts causes the pins themselves to become loose and to fall out. This known pin connection is furthermore unsuitablein. the case of electric toy railways, as thecentre rail also has to be provided with a pin. WVhen a length of track is required in the form of an S or reversed curve, it is necessary toremove the pins from one of the pieces of track forming the curves. Any coming apart of these rail joint connections in the case of electric railways may be dangerous, as it may easily cause short-circuits.

The present invention overcomes all these difficulties and provides a secure, reliable and rigid connection between the pieces of track to be connected. It consists in this, that the lengths of track are firmly coupled together by means of a connecting plate having bolts fixed to it, which extend through slots or holes in the ends of the pieces of tracli, and are secured by nuts. The invention makes use of the well-known pieces of track in which the road bed and the rails are stamped out of a single piece of sheet metal. For such tracks the present invention provides special means for aligning the rails, which consist in this, that the connecting plate is bent up at both its longitudinal edges to form beaded-over flanges which engage in the heads of the rails and ensure the vehicles being reliably guided from one rail to the other. A further feature of the invention consistsin this, that the connecting plate, when used in connection with electric Fig. 1 being a cross-section through the track on line A-A of Fig. 2,

Fig. 2 a plan View of the rail joint connec tion, in which a portion of the current conducting centre rail only is shown,

Fig. 3 a longitudinal section along the centre line of the track,

Fig. t a perspective view of the connecting plate and,

Fig. 5 a modified form of the end of a piece of track.

In both constructional forms of the invention, the two pieces of track 1 and 2, which are each stamped out of a single piece of sheet-metal, are connected rigidly together by a connecting plate 3.

The ends of the pieces of track according to Figs. 1 and 2 have rectangular pieces 4, 4 cut away, each of which is provided with two broad slots 5, 5. On the connecting plate two upwardly extending screw bolts 6 are fixed. The two screw bolts are formed from a U-shaped piece of wire, the middle portion 7 of which is flattened out, so that it can be rigidly connected by spot welding to the under side of the connecting plate 3. The connecting plate has its two longitudinal sides bent up to form beaded-over flanges 8, 8. These upwardly bent side flanges 8 engage in the hollow space of the rail heads 9 and ensure the two pieces of track 1 and 2 being connected in true align ment.

In another constructional form of the invention, as shown in Fig. 5, in place of the two cut-away rectangles l, two holes 10, 10

are provided and a rectangular portion 11 the screw 5 or the holes 10, For releasably but firmly I connecting the plate 3 to the pieces of track land 2, nuts 12 are screwed on to the screw bolts 6, and are tightened down. In order that the nuts shall not be lost, the screw bolts may, in the constructional form shown in Figs. 1 and 2, be provided with notches 13 after the nuts have been screwed on. The i cut out rectangle l enables the bolts 6 to be inserted laterally into the slots 5, after the nuts 12 have been screwed on, but before, they have been tightened. In the; constructional form shown in Fig. 5, the notches in the screw bolts referred to above cannot be used, as it would be impossible to insert the bolts from below through the holes 10.

In the case of tracks for electric toy railways, a contact spring 15 is fixed on the centre part of the connecting plate 3 with an interposed insulating piece 14 the two U- shapedbent-over resilient ends 16,17 of which spring press from below against the centre current-conducting rail 18.

lVhat I claim is: a

1. A rail joint connect-ion for toy railways, comprising in combination a plurality of pieces of track, openings at the ends of the said pieces of track, a connecting plate, screw bolts fixed to the said connecting plate,

capable ofbeing inserted through the said openings and nuts for screwing on to the said bolts for securing the pieces of track and the connecting plate together, as set forth.

2. A rail joint connection for toy railways, comprising in combination a plurality of pieces of track, openings at theends of the said pieces of track, a connecting plate, screw bolts fixed to the said connecting plate,,capable of being inserted through the said openings, nuts for screwing on to the said bolts for securing the pieces of track and the connecting plate together, and upwardly extending flanges at the sides of the connecting plate for enabling the rails to be brought into alignment at the joint, as set forth. f l t 3. A rail joint connection for electric toy railways, comprising in combination a plurality of pieces of; track, having two rails and a centre current-conducting rail, openings in the ends of the said pieces of track, a connectingplate, screw bolts fixed to the said connecting plate capable of being in serted through the said openings, nuts for screwing on to the said bolts for securing thepieces of track and the connecting plate together and an insulated contact spring fixed to the connecting plate and having bent-over ends capable of pressing against the lower side of the saidcentre rail, as and for the purpose set forth.

4:. A rail joint connection for electric toy railways, as claimed in claim 3, and having the pieces of track cut away at the ends for allowing the insulated contact spring to pass through, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

LUDWIG REISCHL. 

